Leaf-spring for vehicles.



E. C, -ZISTEHER. LEAF spams mi: VEHICLES.

MlLED1uLY6.1915.

APPLICATEO Patented May 30,1916.

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LEAF-SPRING FOR VEHICLES.

i momie To all coito/)it t concern Be it known that l, EMIL il. Zis'rsiiiii, e citizen. of the United Stetes, zuid e resident of Chicago, county of Cook, and State of Illinois, have invented certain new ood useful Improvements in Leef-Springs for Ve hicles of which the following is decl-ered to be o lull, clear, and exact description..

This ii'iventioii relates to leef springs for vehicles, and'its object is to provide means whereby the several. leaves of the spring may be lubricated Without the necessity of sep--y areting soidfleeves for the insertion othe lubricant-' i' It is Well known that the of lubricating leef springs of vehicles, particularly, of automobiles, is an irlzsome and tedious one, and 'that unless the Springs are lubricated they become noisy, iictioii developsimd tbe car does not ride so easily es with Well lubricated springs.

The 'present invention con ts iii the pio vision of in'tercommuniculmg conduits formed in one or more contiguous feces in the leaves oli. the spring, and means for supn plying a lubricant to `said conduits.

The invention further consists in the novel features hereinafter set foi-th and definedI in, the claims.

The invention is clearly illustrated iii the drawing furnished herewith, oli which:

Figure fi is o longitudinal. section through Vthe lower spring o an elliptical leal sori'og; Fig. 2 is e. foce view of the loivermost'leet of the spring looking in the direction o the arrow, 2, in Fig. l; Fig. 3 is a fece vie7 ofi the leef immediately above the loweiuiost leef', looking in the direction ind ted by the arrow, oi tbe leaf located immediately above the one shown .in 3, looking in the di lction of the arrow, 3, iii Fig. l; Fig. 5 is o detail vertical cross section token ou the line 5-5 loli Fig. l; and Figli is a. detail longitudinal section' of fragments 01"' two leaves. I 1

n the embodiment oi' the inveiitioii illus trated iii. the dra-Wing, l0 designetcs e leaf spring; which may comprise the lower spiing of an elliptical leef spring, end iii eccord cuco with the usuel practice comprises e pli relity of individual leaves, il, 12, i3, le, 15, 16' and 17, arranged one above the other, the several leaves increasing in length es they v'progress upwardly. The uppermost leef, il', 1s formed et its ends with eyes or loops, le,

Speciceton of Letters Eatent.

3, in Fig l; Fig. d is o fece view,

of the spring.

Patented Moy 3d, tli.,

Application led July 6, 1915. Serial No. 3&046t

fertile reception of bolts which connect the lower spring; with the upper spring, or with tlie V:treuil-i oi. the 'vehicle supported bv the lower spring, as is common with springs of this type. The middle portion olf.' the spring is :itticlued to tbe axle of the vehicle by U-u bolts,.o, as isvvell understoodby those fa Amiliar with the art, sind all the levers are lirnfily clakmped together said Ubolts. Besides tliis the Weight of the vehicle upon the upper ends of 'the spring serves to hold the contiguous leaves in firm Contact with each other. l

l'n carrying out :my invention l provide conduits, preferably in tbe lower laces of all of the leaves, except the lowormost one, said conduits running; from zi point nearthe middle of each loaf to a point neer each end.

Suid conduits are coi'ivenieritly provided by.

forming' lengthwise extending l shallow grooves, 19, iu the lower faces ofthe leaves, und, ii' desired, the outer ends of seid grooves muy terminate in Widely spreadingslmllovv bellows, 20, 'for holding .a quantity of lubricent.

lt understood that there :irc tivosets of conduits, ouo set located lneer euch end ot tbc spring, nud the severed conduits ci e: `cli couuruuuccte with eacb. other through apertures, 2l, formed iu the body oi? euch leef; at somo point in the groove ilu-reet, thus providing a continuous clieniul or conduit in the contiguous faces of the leeres. through which channel or conduit e lub-Munt muy be forced from some poi'ilt outside of tbe spring.

lu the vform shown tlie ioweriuost leeft, ll, is provided in its upper fece with e conduit or groove, l5 extending between the opeisturer-i. 2l, 2l, of the leef above and has on ep ort-ure, 22, extending out from seid groove -nnd communicating with a grease cup, or

which muy, be screwed down to force e. si1it-l able. semi-'solid lubricant between the leaves lu the lower fece of the lect, l?, the conduit, i9, extends from e, point meer oiieiend of thev leef to :i point neer the other end thereof and is comple mental to tli groove, 19C, in the lowermost it communicates with tbe grooves in the loof :ibo-vc, through the apertures, 2l, as cleairiy indicated iii Fig. l of the chewing.

fiok

If desired, the grooves', 19, may have lateral extensions, 19, as shown in Fig. 4, to conduct the lubricant toward the side edges of the leaf. Short grooves, 19d, may be formed in the upper faces *of the intermediate leaves, running from the aperture of one leaf to the one in the leaf above, thus providing round grooves at. those places.

ln use'a suitable spring lubricant, such asta mixture of hard grease and graphite, is placed in the cup, 23, and the plunger or cap screwed down, thereby forcing the grease through the intercommunicating conduits at both ends of the spring, and when all of'the conduits have been filled with lubricant, then by applying still greater force on the lubricant in the cup, the lubricant in` the grooves is forced out between the contiguous faces of the leaves of the spring.l

From the above it is perfectly evident that a leaf spring equipped with a lubricating ineans as herein described, may be kept in good working condition at all times, and that the laborious and time-consuming task oflubricating the spring is eliminated,y and that when the supply of lubricant in the` grease cup is exhausted,

the cup may be readily filled with a fresh supply, and the cap or plunger turned down to supply the spring with fresh lubricant. lt is to bc understood that'the upper spring of an elliptical leaf spring may be lubri` cated vin spring.

More or less variation of the exact details of construction is possible, without departthe same manner as the lower amiamo ing from the spirit of my invention, and I desire, therefore, not to limit myself to the exact form of construction shown and described, but intend in the following claims to point out all of the invention disclosed herein. v

I claim as newand desire to secure by Letters Patent:

1. A leaf spring for vehicles, comprising a plurality of superimposed spring leaves, the lower faces of the leaves, above the lowermost one, having lengthwise extending grooves formed therein and extending throughout the greater portion of their length, and the upper faces of the leaves, intermediate the top and bottom leaves, having lengthwise extending short grooves formed therein and registering with the long grooves near their outer ends, the short grooves of each leaf communicating with the long groove below through an aperture, thereby forming an intercommunicating series of lubricant receiving conduits, and a cup for receiving lubricant, communicating with said inter-communicating con- Y duits.

2. A leaf spring for Vehicles comprising a plurality of superimposed leaf springs, the lower faces of the leaves above the lowermost `one having lengthwise `extending' grooves formed therein, apertures in said leaves forming communication between the grooves of one leaf and that of the adjacent ones, short grooves in the upper faces extending between the aperture of each leaf and the one on the adjacent'leaf, and a lubricant reservoir openin to said grooves.

EMIL ZISTERER. 

